Standard radio communication devices are limited in functionality as compared to devices that receive and process signals transmitted through wired technologies, such as analog and digital cable, digital subscriber lines and fiber optic lines. These signals are received by modems or converters, and the processed signals are then communicated to routers, televisions, digital video recorders and computers for display and manipulation of the audio and video content.
More detailed and complex information can be provided with these wired broadcast signals, and devices, such as digital video recorders and computers. Further, devices such as digital video recorders and computers provide for the recording of received information from the wired broadcast signals. In addition, the data processing capability of computers and networks are available to process the received information. For example, crawler programs are available to search for information in networks such as the Internet or World Wide Web. These functionalities are only available for content delivered through these types of networks and are not available for information broadcast through transmitted radio signals. In addition, these systems often employ multiple components for the receipt, processing, recording, and display of the transmitted content.
Standard radio communication devices, such as radio receivers, receive radio signals and process those signals into a format that provides audio and limited data output to a user of the radio receiver. For example, in addition to programming content, such as songs or speech, standard radio devices may receive radio broadcasts that also include identifying information or data, e.g., station identification and song or artist information, which is transmitted in the same signal. Standard radio receivers are, however, limited to outputting the audio content and displaying the additional identifying information broadcast by a radio station and are not capable of processing and displaying more detailed or complex information. Standard radio receivers are also limited in their ability to record content from broadcast signals that are received and processed by the radio receivers. Although standard radio receivers can be associated with recording devices, for example tape decks, such recording devices are typically separate from the radio receivers and are in communication with the radio receiver through a larger collection of audio connectors and components.